Democracy requires that every citizen can govern, not merely reach a better job

Evidence

The multiplication of types of vocational school thus tends to perpetuate traditional social differences; but since, within these differences, it tends to encourage internal diversification, it gives the impression of being democratic in tendency. The labourer can become a skilled worker, for instance, the peasant a surveyor or petty agronomist. But democracy, by definition, cannot mean merely that an unskilled worker can become skilled. It must mean that every “citizen” can “govern” and that society places him, even if only abstractly, in a general condition to achieve this. Political democracy tends towards a coincidence of the rulers and the ruled (in the sense of government with the consent of the governed), ensuring for each non-ruler a free training in the skills and general technical preparation necessary to that end. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 366

But democracy, by definition, cannot mean merely that an unskilled worker can become skilled. It must mean that every “citizen” can “govern” and that society places him, even if only abstractly, in a general condition to achieve this. Political democracy tends towards a coincidence of the rulers and the ruled (in the sense of government with the consent of the governed), ensuring for each non-ruler a free training in the skills and general technical preparation necessary to that end. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 366

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines democracy as coincidence of rulers and ruled — a key concept for the toolkit.
• XREF: Connects to the hegemony concept from earlier in the Notebooks — consent-based rule. — connects to: Democracy means only that the people rule, nothing more — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 401; Procedural justice requires every governed person to have an effective voice in decisions — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 113
• SEED: A modern essay could use this to critique ‘diversity pipeline’ arguments in academia that celebrate upward mobility without changing who rules.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 366